Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3 June 2026 said he met Rabi Lamichhane, Chairman of Nepal's Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and welcomed his desire to work jointly for a shared regional future. The exchange, shared on X, framed Nepal as a 'priority partner' under India's Neighbourhood First policy.

'Delighted to meet the Chairman of the Rastriya Swatantra Party of Nepal Mr. Rabi Lamichhane. I welcome and fully share his desire to work closely together for a shared and prosperous future,' the Prime Minister wrote, adding that 'Nepal is a priority partner under our Neighbourhood First policy.'

Context

The post signals continued political-level outreach by New Delhi to a cross-section of Nepali parties, beyond the traditional engagement with established formations such as the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party, founded in 2022, has positioned itself as an anti-corruption and governance-reform force in Kathmandu's parliament, and its leadership has drawn attention from foreign capitals tracking generational change in Nepali politics.

Policy backdrop

The Neighbourhood First framework was articulated by Prime Minister Modi soon after taking office in 2014, when Nepal was among the earliest destinations of his foreign travel and he became the first Indian prime minister to address Nepal's Constituent Assembly.

Since then, India and Nepal have signed agreements on cross-border rail links, integrated check posts, petroleum pipelines and power-trade arrangements. The 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship continues to anchor the open-border arrangement that allows free movement of people and goods.

Engagement with parties such as the RSP fits a long-standing Indian practice of maintaining contact with the full political spectrum in Kathmandu, particularly as regional infrastructure competition intensifies.

Stakeholders and impact

For Mr. Lamichhane, a meeting with the Indian Prime Minister carries symbolic weight as his party seeks to consolidate its national profile. For New Delhi, the conversation extends political bandwidth with a newer Nepali force whose voter base skews younger and urban.

Border-district communities in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, along with Nepali migrant workers in India, remain the most direct stakeholders in any forward movement on connectivity, trade facilitation and labour mobility.

Hydropower developers and power-trading entities on both sides also watch such political signals closely, given the multi-year pipeline of projects under discussion.

What's next

Attention will turn to whether the engagement translates into substantive follow-up on pending cross-border rail segments, power-purchase volumes and trade-facilitation measures.

Regional platforms such as BIMSTEC and bilateral mechanisms on water, trade and security offer the immediate venues where the tone set by such political-level meetings is tested. For New Delhi, sustained outreach to Nepal's emerging parties is likely to remain a feature of the Neighbourhood First playbook in the coming year.